Seven Samurai

I watched Akira Kurisawa's "Seven Samurai" last night. I'd never seen this classic film, nor any of its Western remakes. I really enjoyed it!

Film making has evolved a lot in the last 70 years, but this movie still holds up really well. The pacing is a little slow for contemporary audiences, but many of the storytelling mechanisms we expect are there. The acting is superb. There are beautiful establishing shots. The tension builds consistently and slowly until the big climax, and the choreography of that was very well executed.

I was really interested in lots of little things about Japanese culture. I always thought samurai were a relatively rare breed, but the initial effort to find a samurai suggests that towns are absolutely full of them wandering around. I've no idea how realistic this was. I also really enjoyed the costumes and the hairstyles of all the characters. There was a huge variety represented, and it was fun to watch even in black-and-white. I learned afterward about the chonmage top-knot. The small wooden "pillows" that were used, the farmers' village and the threshing, the manual tools: it was all really interesting!

What most surprised me about Seven Samurai, though, was how funny it was. I was not expecting much comedy, so any amount of levity was more than I anticipated; but it had many genuinely funny scenes. The faces of the farmers, the brash Kikuchiyo, the way the grizzled vets treat young Katsushiro. There were more than a few laugh-out-loud moments.

I don't have any strong urge to watch the American remakes at this time. Partly because Western themed movies don't do much for me. But also, I don't have any need to improve upon this movie. It was great as it was. I do want to watch Yojimbo and Sanjuro. My friends tell me that Toshirō Mifune is not quite as funny in these as he is in Seven Samurai, and I'm really keen to see the difference in acting.